Disc drives are digital data storage devices which store and retrieve large amounts of user data in a fast and efficient manner. The data are magnetically recorded on the surfaces of one or more data storage discs (media) affixed to a spindle motor for rotation at a constant high speed.
An array of vertically aligned data transducing heads are controllably positioned by an actuator to read data from and write data to tracks defined on the recording surfaces. An actuator motor rotates the actuator to move the heads across the disc surfaces. The heads are configured to be aerodynamically supported over these surfaces by fluidic pressures (e.g., air, helium, etc.) established by the high speed rotation of the discs.
It is generally desirable to control the fluidic environment within a data storage device. Data storage housings are typically sealed with gaskets and similar features along the respective housing mating surfaces to prevent the ingress of contaminants from the external environment.
Some designers have provided hermetically sealed devices so that the interior atmosphere within the device is completely captured and no fluidic transfer is allowed to occur between the interior and exterior of the housing. A hermetically sealed housing allows the use of a lower density fluid within the housing, such as an inert gas (e.g., helium). This can provide certain operational performance advantages including lower head fly heights, reduced nonrepeatable runout (NRRO) effects, and higher data recording densities. A hermetically sealed housing can also reduce corrosion of internal components and contamination from external particles.
There is accordingly a need for improvements in hermetically sealed housings such as the types used for data storage devices, and it is to such improvements that the claimed invention is generally directed.